African Fusion July-August 2024

Sanipipe UHP welding

Sanipipe’s UHP orbital welding capability Sanipipe Engineering Services has established a new orbital welding capability for the delivery of food grade and ultra high purity (UHP) welding pipework for the food, beverage, HVAC and pharmaceutical industries. African Fusion talks to MD, Donald Johnson; QA manager Andre Hodnett; and health and safety and orbital welding coordinator, Ian Munazvo.

S anipipe Engineering Services was formed in 2005 when its current MD, Donald Johnson, who was working with a project house as a qualified boiler maker at the time, was prompted by some colleagues to establish his own company. “With the support of those I already knew, I started a small fabrication company offer ing high-end TIG welding services, mostly for food and beverage and HVAC projects, but also for the steam boiler sector,” John son tells African Fusion . “We are contractors to consultants such as High Calibre Engineering, Project Assign ment, AECI Water, Appletizer (Coca-Cola), BBI Solutions, PepsiCo Simba, PepsiCo Ce res Fruit Juices and Aspen Pharmacare. We get design drawings and isometrics from them, and we fabricate exactly according to their technical specifications,” he adds. In a drive to deliver better weld quality, the company was certified to ISO 9001 2015 in 2016, and just before Covid hit in 2020, Sanipipe was awarded ISO 3834-2 certifica tion by the SAIW. The move to adopt orbital welding technology into the company’s of fering began with enquires from the South African pharmaceutical industry. “We could

not reach the purity standards required for pharmaceutical work without orbital weld ing so, following some good advice from Polysoude, we took the plunge. We now have two Polysoude orbital welding sys tems with all the orbital heads we need to accommodate pipe diameters from 10 mm to 104 mm,” Johnson tells African Fusion . From the outset, Sanipipe has focused on the specific pipe welding needs required for sanitary applications, ie, those for the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, oil & gas and similar industries. As well as ensur ing that the pipe welds are flaw-free and mechanically sound, sanitary welds must also be very smooth, uncontaminated and easily cleanable to maintain the required standards of hygiene. Stainless steel tubing is usually used as a food-safe contact mate rial but, to remove any chance of contami nation inside of these tubes, the surface fin ish must be free of any discontinuities that could become sites for microbial growth. In addition, to maintain a smooth and corrosion-free surface in the inside of the welded pipes and tubes, oxidation must be avoided. During welding, therefore, the weld seams must be back purged to

exclude oxygen, using an inert gas such as argon. “Our orbital welding, together with back purging, enables us to meet these require ments at the highest levels,” continues Johnson. “For most food & beverage ap plications, 304L and 316L stainless tube is acceptable, but for the pharmaceutical industry, we use UHP-grade Dockweiller tubing, which comes with an electro-pol ished surface finish of the highest quality,” he says, adding that this gives Sanipipe the ultra-high purity (UHP) welded tubing compatibility needed to service the phar maceutical and medical industry at the highest quality levels. “We can accommodate wall thicknesses of between 1.2 and 3.0 mm, typically ASTM Schedule 5 or 10, and we can produce an orbital TIG weld in a single pass without the need for filler material,” continues Sanipipe’s; orbital welding coordinator, Ian

The Sanipipe team, from left: Trevor Cekiso, procurement; Ian Munazvo, HSE and Orbital Welding Co-Ordinator; Jacquiline Schippers, office administrator; Phillip Mushonga, projects manager; Gino Cooper, maintenance manager; Andre Hodnett, quality manager; and Donald Johnson, managing director.

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July-August 2024

AFRICAN FUSION